Corner Shop Chat
by Evil Nun
Summary: Shortly after arriving on the shores of Metru Nui, Hahli is kept busy, but finds time to chat with her friend Macku. But is all what it seems to be? Song fic based on the 2006 LEGO Bionicle story line


**Ok...Still trying to figure out how to do all this...I think this story is allowed, can't see why it wouldn't be. I read the rules and all that, and was slightly confused about one thing about song lyrics...If I did something wrong, take pity on me, the n00b, and kindly point so I can fix/remove the story. . **

**Anyways, this is a song fic about Hahli. The song: "In My Own Little Corner" from Cinderella. And...I think that's all you need to know.**

_I'm as mild and as meek as a mouse_

_when I hear a command I obey._

_But I know of a spot in my house_

_where no one can stand in my way._

Hahli hurried to the market place as quickly as she could. Turaga Nokama had asked her to retrieve some things, as she normally did. It wasn't anything unusual for Nokama to ask her to run errands for her, and quite frankly, Hahli enjoyed being the one Nokama trusted and expected to do the job right. Today however, she wanted to get the errands done as quickly as possible, mostly because she wanted to talk to Macku and knew that she'd be grumpy if she were late.

It had been so long since she had had time to really socialize with anyone. With the move to Metru Nui, everyone, even the Le-Matoran, were kept on their toes with jobs. Each day had been the same: Get up, eat, work on the rubbish cleaning, discuss rebuilding plans with Nokama and other trusted Matoran, eat, clean some more, go home, sleep, repeat. After a month of this Hahli felt positively fried and had asked Nokama if she and Macku could take some well-needed time off. After a little thought, Nokama decided that it would do not only them, but all of the Ga-Matoran some good to just kick back and rest for a day. Hahli was the only one working that morning, and it was more of a favor then work. She picked up the item from Kai, and hustled back to Nokama's hut.

After making sure there was nothing else that Nokama needed, Hahli walked calmly through the pathways. When she was out of sight of Nokama's hut however, she ran towards the meeting place as if Makuta himself were behind her.

_In my own little corner in my own little chair_

_I can be whatever I want to be._

_On the wings of my fancy I can fly anywhere_

_and the world will open its arms to me._

Hahli arrived at the little corner house breathless. Long ago before the great cataclysm, it had been a successful, little café shop. Since their return, it was one of the few places that was not only standing, but still strong enough to allow Matoran to go inside without fear of it crashing down. A couple of the Matoran, not too exhausted from their work, had seen value in the shop and during the scattered breaks throughout the day would sell beverages and little trinkets. This Metru-wide break gave them an excellent excuse to experiment with different things that might one day make a pretty widget for them. Inside this quaint place, Macku was waiting impatiently.

"About time you got here!" Macku scolded. "I've already ordered my latte, so you'll have to hunt down a waiter for whatever you want."

"I'm fine, I came here to talk to you, not go on a scavenger hunt for waiters."

"So, what's new with Ga-Metru's number one water Turaga?"

Hahli first tested the chair before sitting down. While the building was safe, she had seen some Matoran find out the hard way that not all the furniture had held up so well.

"Well, she's been pretty busy organizing clean-up crews and such. She has also been talking to the other Turaga a lot lately."

Macku rolled her eyes. "Not that that's unusual for a Turaga."

"No, I suppose not." Hahli agreed, "So what have you been doing? I've only seen you three times since we got here, and only long enough to wave!"

The two of them gabbed like the old friends they were, discussing the things they liked and disliked about Metru Nui, what special jobs they'd had here and there, until it finally bubbled down to the random facts such as different trinkets they found while cleaning, musings over whether Kohlii would still be the "official" sport, and eventually about dreams.

"I was sitting down on some rubble a few days ago, when I either dosed off or had a very in depth day dream. Whatever it was, it was most peculiar."

"Oh, do tell me about it!" Macku pleaded.

"I don't know…" Hahli hesitated, "It was really strange as dreams go, and you'd probably laugh."

"Are not most dreams worth laughing about?" Macku said with a grin, "Please tell me."

When Hahli didn't answer, Macku folded her hands, tilted her head down, and looked up at Hahli with an expression not even a baby Husi could best. "…Please…?"

Hahli sighed with a grin, "Well, I guess I can tell you, it was just a dream anyway…"

_I'm a young Norwegian princess or a milkmaid_

_I'm the greatest prima donna in Milan_

_I'm an heiress who has always had her silk made_

_by her own flock of silkworms in Japan_

"Well, you know how the Toa Nuva have left us mysteriously for some mission or what-not?" Macku nodded, "Well, I dreamed that my friend Jaller came to me in the evening, saying that he talked to one of the Turaga and they told him they are out to find a mask because…." She paused and looked at the other Matoran around her. She then huddled closer to Macku and whispered, "…Because the Great Spirit Mata Nui was dying!"

"Dying?" Macku's eye's widened, "What _are_ you eating before bedtime anyway?"

Hahli laughed, "Now you're beginning to see why I didn't want to tell you my dream! Anyways, they had to get this mask in order to save Mata Nui. So Jaller is telling me all this, and says that the Toa should have been back by now and the Turaga think they're dead, or worse. Then he told me about his plan. He would take one Matoran from each Kor-I mean Metru and go out on a way that is much more dangerous than the way the Toa took, and see if we could help get them out of whatever they got into."

Macku couldn't help but start laughing, and Hahli couldn't help but join in. "You--you and some rag-tag team of Matoran go out to _save_ the _Toa Nuva?"_ Macku asked, with even more peals of laughter. "Tell me, did Tahu Nuva start taking vine-swinging lessons from Lewa in your dream as well?"

"Oh just wait, it gets better!" Hahli said with one last giggle. "Our journey ended up taking us through the land of Karzahni…"

"Wait, Karzahni?" Macku stuttered, "I thought you said this was a dream, not a nightmare!"

"Well, it was a little of both…It would have been a nightmare to have experienced in real life, but as a dream the absurdity of it all makes it really funny."

"Ok, continue?"

"…From this land we escaped via Toa Canisters, and while floating to our destination, were struck by lightning and transformed into—now wait for this—Toa!"

Macku and Hahli joined in an uproariously loud and cacophonous laughter. The other Matoran surrounding them turned around and stared, being startled by the sudden noise

Macku could barely speak she was laughing so hard. "You, you and Jaller, and the other Matoran get ele-electrically fried, and…and end up as T-Toa?"

"Y-Yes!" Hahli giggled.

"My! You're a Matoran one moment, then a Toa!"

_I'm a girl men go mad for love's a game I can play with_

_cool and confident kind of air._

_Just as long as I stay in my own little corner_

_All alone in my own little chair._

They laughed until their sides hurt, and after a few short giggles escaped between them, Macku begged for more.

"Well then," Hahli began again, "We were very strange Toa, as Toa go; organic masks, very bright features, etc, etc. So after exploring the island and our powers, we came across a large channel of molten lava…"

"Isn't most lava molten?" Macku interrupted

"Stop interrupting! Now, we came across this channel and had to cross it. While crossing it, however, my transporter accidentally dropped me and I found myself falling to my death! Suddenly, Jaller leapt through the air, grabbed me, somersaulted, and carried me across to the other side!"

The corners of Macku's mouth turned upward into a mischievous grin, "Have you noticed how Jaller is always peeping into your dreams doing something heroic?"

"Now Macku," Hahli mumbled slowly, "Let's not get personal about the heroes of our dreams…I think I do recall you telling me something about Hewki and…What was it? Swimming? Diving? Beating up a killer Takea shark that was about to eat y—?"

"Wasn't the channel to wide too jump over?" Macku suddenly interjected, peeking around the other tables worriedly, "How did Jaller manage it anyway?"

Hahli couldn't help but smirk in triumph, "I believe it had something to do with his mask. He was able to do a lot of near-impossible feats since we became Toa."

_All alone in my own little chair_

_I can be whatever I want to be._

_I'm a slave from Calcutta I'm a queen in Peru._

_I'm a mermaid dancing upon the sea._

"Later we entered into…Our enemy's fortress." Hahli decided it would be best to avoid mentioning in front of Macku that these enemies called themselves by that vile word Piraka, "In there Kongu found the Nuva's masks hanging on nails…That was one of the most terrifying parts, knowing they had been there, and that they were either imprisoned like slaves, or…Or dead. Either way they were beyond our help."

It was about then that Hahli noticed that something wasn't right. She could hear Jaller calling her, but couldn't see him anywhere. "Macku, is that Jaller calling?"

"Hmm?"

"Who's calling my name?" Hahli asked.

"Is there someone calling? I can't hear anyone." Macku said with a shrug.

"No, listen! It sounds like Jaller, and he sounds worried!"

The two of them paused to listen. Presently Macku raised an eyebrow and went back to her latte.

"Surely you can hear that!" Hahli said anxiously.

"No Hahli, I can't. I just hear the normal café noises. What time did you get to sleep last night?"

Hahli knew she wasn't hearing things. Jaller's voice sounded almost as if he were right behind her, and yet distant at the same time. She turned around, searching all over. There! Now she could hear Matoro's voice as well as Jaller's. "Can't you hear…?" Hahli stopped mid-sentence. When she had turned to face Macku again, it was no longer Macku sitting across from her, but the grotesque grinning face of Vezok, gripping Macku's latte between his large hands casually. Hahli started up, and fell backwards over her chair in her hurry. The other Matoran were suddenly morphing into rahi, Rahkshi, and even the other Piraka. Hahli jumped up and ran for the door even as the whole room seemed to fade and spin. She heard Jaller's voice call out once again before everything went black.

Then suddenly, she was awake and gazing up at the worried expressions of Jaller and Matoro Inika. She had a splitting headache, though she had a feeling that it had more to do with the rocks that had buried her from Kongu's half thought out plan than her mask.

_I'm a huntress on an African safari._

_It's a dangerous type of sport and yet it's fun_

_In the night I sally forth to seek my quarry_

_And I find I forgot to bring my gun._

Toa Hahli Inika clasped her head in her hands and moaned as Jaller and Matoro went about checking on the others. She didn't belong here, none of them belonged here! Not too long ago they were just simple Matoran who only entertained the thought of being Toa on a rare and passing whim. She wanted to go back, she wanted to wake up from this nightmare and laugh about it with Macku in some café on Metru Nui. She mumbled a promise to herself that if she ever, EVER heard anyone say being a Toa was fun, she would slap them…With her harpoon if necessary.

_"I don't belong here..."_ She thought to herself, _"No more then a Gukko belongs in a Muaka den. I have mask powers, I have the strength of a Toa, I have the floods at my command…But skill?" _She looked around at the scene of Jaller, Matoro, and Hewki digging out what looked to be Kongu. "No comment." She mumbled in answer to herself. _"All of us, new, untried, untrained for the most part, against 6 ruthless, murderous monsters with who knows how many years of experience backing them up…We might as well be hunting Muaka with our fists." _

When all the Toa Inika were dug out, checked over for injuries, and given a brief team-spirit chat, they headed in pursuit once again of the trail that the Piraka had left in their hurry to beat the Toa to the Mask of Life.

"Whoever is in charge of recruiting Toa needs to have a serious mental condition check-up." Hahli mumbled to no one in particular. If anyone heard her, they didn't make any effort in responding.

_I am lost in the jungle all alone and unarmed_

_when I meet a lioness in her lair_

Hahli hefted her weapon in her hands in anticipation. For whatever reason, they had been chosen. None of them—most likely—would have chosen to be Toa, but that obviously wasn't up for them to decide. All they could do now is their best, and hope that it was good enough.

_"And so far it seems it has been good enough…"_ Hahli thought. _"We haven't lost the Piraka's trail yet, we have defeated the guardians—or tests I suppose— that Axxon said we would encounter, we freed the enslaved Matoran…That's nothing to be ashamed of when one looks at it like that."_ Hahli's spirit began to rise again with this new perspective on their progress, _"We're either doing everything right…Or having an insane amount of beginners luck."_ Hahli grinned, "Or we're just insane."

Jaller motioned the group to halt. Beyond they could hear the sounds of crashing, weapons beating, and Zamar firing, which meant that the Piraka were no doubt having a hay day with whatever guardian lay beyond.

They quickly discussed a plan of attack, each Toa looking eager but anxious at the same time. At the signal, the group ran towards the battle as one, each one brandishing their weapons.

_"Whatever lies beyond these doors,"_ Hahli thought while running, _"Guardian or thief, I know I am destined to meet you in battle."_

A few more steps and they would be through the door at the end of the stairs. A red glow was emanating from them and a burst of heat mixed with a sulfurous odor slammed into them like a giant hand trying to guide them away.

_"And I am ready."_

_Then I'm glad to be back in my own little corner,_

_All alone in my own little chair._


End file.
